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Ancient crocodile-like animals first saw easy meals on land and then evolved limbs that enabled them to get there. Image credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation.

Early Tetrapods Had Fewer Skull Bones than Extinct and Living Fish, New Study Reveals

Sep 9, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists from the United Kingdom and Spain have discovered that tetrapods had more complex connections between their skull bones than fish and, rather...

$A reconstruction of Tuebingosaurus maierfritzorum. The cortical bone on the left side of the fossil is fractured into flakes, which can be explained if the carcass was exposed over a long time on the mud, two to four years, before being buried -- in the reconstruction, the animal will fall to its right body side. The reconstruction shows the animal sinking in a mud trap, attacked by a rauisuchian, Teratosaurus, which has also been found in the Trossingen Formation in Baden-Württemberg. In the background, a herd of Plateosaurus trossingensis runs away from the scene. The flora in the swamp is reconstructed based on fossils from the Germanic basin, with shoots of horsetails and ferns covering the swamp and a forest comprising cycads, lycophytes and coniferous plants. Image credit: O.R.R. Fernández & I. Werneburg, doi: 10.3897/vz.72.e86348.$

New Long-Necked Dinosaur Species Discovered after Century in University’s Collection

Sep 8, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of sauropodomorph dinosaur has been discovered, after being misidentified as Plateosaurus trossingensis and kept in the Palaeontological...

West-east (W-E) and north-south (N-S) cross-section of the reef-like landform showing a distinct highest-elevated central dome in relation to less-elevated rim. Image credit: Lipar et al., doi: 10.1002/esp.5459.

Enigmatic Reef-Like Structure Discovered in Australia

Sep 8, 2022 by News Staff

An analysis of advanced satellite images from the German Aerospace Centre has revealed an ancient landform with a circular rim and central dome ‘hidden’...

Reconstruction of Enhydriodon omoensis (in background), compared with three current species, left to right: the South American giant otter; the sea otter; and an African otter. An australopithecine and a modern human shown here for size comparison. The femur and dental remains of Enhydriodon omoensis are shown in insets. Image credit: Sabine Riffaut / Camille Grohé / Palevoprim / CNRS - Université de Poitiers.

Lion-Sized Otters Lived in Ethiopia 3 Million Years Ago

Sep 8, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described a new species of the extinct otter genus Enhydriodon from fossilized teeth and bones found in the Lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia. Reconstruction...

Brasilodon quadrangularis was approximately 12 cm (8 inches) long and weighed about 20 grams. The animal existed at the same time as the earliest known dinosaurs and probably lived in burrows like the shrews today. Image credit: Anatomical Society / Wiley.

Brasilodon is Earliest Known Mammal, New Research Shows

Sep 7, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined the fossilized lower jaws of Brasilodon quadrangularis, a mouse-sized creature that lived in Brazil during the Late Triassic...

An artist’s reconstruction of Elemgasem nubilus. Image credit: Abel German Montes.

New Abelisaurid Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina

Sep 6, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur has been described from the fossils found in Patagonia, Argentina. An artist’s reconstruction...

The new Zimbabwean assemblage is on the same paleolatitudinal climatic belt as other Carnian dinosaur-bearing assemblages and has a similar taxonomic composition: (a) the northern Zimbabwean locality geographically links other Carnian dinosaurian localities across southern Pangaea; (b) the new Zimbabwean locality is the oldest definitive dinosaurian locality in Africa, coeval with Carnian dinosaur localities from other parts of the world; (c) summary stratigraphic column of the Pebbly Arkose Formation at the type locality in Zimbabwe showing the records of Mbiresaurus raathi (red), a herrerasaurid dinosaur (yellow), a traversodontid cynodont (blue), a hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur (orange) and an aetosaur (green); (d) representative fossils from the Pebbly Arkose Formation, including (1) aetosaur paramedian osteoderm (dorsal view), (2) herrerasaurid dinosaur coracoid (lateral view), (3) cynodont dentary (lateral view) and (4) hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur maxilla (occlusal view). Scale bars - 1 cm (fossils 1, 3 and 4) and 5 cm (fossil 2). Image credit: Griffin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05133-x.

Climatic Barriers Controlled Dispersal of Earliest Dinosaurs, New Theory Says

Sep 1, 2022 by News Staff

In addition to the discovery of Mbiresaurus raathi, Africa’s oldest known dinosaur species, Yale University paleontologist Christopher Griffin and his...

Life reconstruction of Mbiresaurus raathi (foreground) with the rest of the Zimbabwean animal assemblage in the background: two rhynchosaurs (front right), an aetosaur (left), and a herrerasaurid dinosaur chasing a cynodont (back right). Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Meet Mbiresaurus raathi, Africa’s Oldest Known Dinosaur

Sep 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mbiresaurus raathi lived in what is now Zimbabwe during the Carnian age of the Triassic period, approximately 230 million years ago. Life reconstruction...

Paleontologists with the fossilized remains of a Jurassic brachiosaurid dinosaur. Image credit: Instituto Dom Luiz, University of Lisbon.

Giant Sauropod Dinosaur Skeleton Unearthed in Portugal

Aug 30, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Portugal have unearthed the fossilized skeletal remains of what they say is Europe’s biggest sauropod dinosaur. Paleontologists with...

An artist’s impression of a hypsilophodont dinosaur. Image credit: James McKinnon.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Small Plant-Eating Dinosaur from Opalized Fossils

Aug 30, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have used a micro-CT scanner and 3D printing to reconstruct a herbivorous hypsilophodont dinosaur that lived in Australia during the Early...

The four living sirenian species and the recently extinct Steller’s sea cow; figured body sizes are at relative scale. Image credit: Christy Holton / S. Heritage & E.R. Seiffert, doi: 10.7717/peerj.13886.

New Research Tracks Evolution of Sea Cows

Aug 25, 2022 by News Staff

The sea cows originated in the Tethys Sea, between southern Europe and northern Africa, during the latest part of the Paleocene epoch, according to a new...

Representation of the modes of locomotion practiced by Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Image credit: Sabine Riffaut, Guillaume Daver, Franck Guy / PALEVOPRIM / CNRS / University of Poitiers.

Hominins Were Already Bipedal 7 Million Years Ago, Researchers Say

Aug 25, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleoanthropologists have examined three fossilized limb bones of Sahelanthropus tchadensis, one of the oldest known species in the human family tree. Representation...

Life reconstruction of Thalassotitan atrox. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Giant Predatory Mosasaur Unearthed in Morocco

Aug 25, 2022 by News Staff

Thalassotitan atrox, a species of mosasaur that swam in the Cretaceous oceans 66 million years ago, shows that these specialized marine creatures evolved...

Giant beavers, about as large as a modern-day bear, ate aquatic plants before they went extinct after the last Ice Age. Image credit: Luke Dickey.

Semi-Aquatic Beavers Lived in Montana 30 Million Years Ago

Aug 24, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-identified species of beaver, Microtheriomys articulaquaticus, represents the oldest semi-aquatic rodent in North America and the oldest amphibious...

Life reconstruction of Bisticeratops froeseorum. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

New Species of Horned Dinosaur Discovered

Aug 23, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur has been identified from a fossilized skull held in U.S. museums for several decades. The...

Life reconstruction of Kaykay lafken. Image credit: Martina Charnelli.

Fossils of Jurassic Ray-Finned Fish Unearthed in Argentina

Aug 18, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of pachycormiform fish that lived 150 million years ago has been identified from fossils found in the Neuquén Basin of Argentina. Life...

Otodus megalodon. Image credit: J.J. Giraldo.

Megalodon was Transoceanic Superpredator, New Research Shows

Aug 18, 2022 by News Staff

Using an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of the giant shark megadolon (Otodus megalodon), an international team of researchers created the first 3D...

Jeholornis pooping out seeds from fruit, helping fruit-bearing plants take over the world. Image credit: Zhixin Han / Yifan Wang.

Early Cretaceous Birds Ate Whole Fruits

Aug 17, 2022 by News Staff

Members of Jeholornis, a genus of early birds that lived in what is now China some 120 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch), are the earliest-known...

An artist’s reconstruction of Saccorhytus coronarius. Image credit: Liu et al.

Cambrian Animal with Mouth but No Anus Is Not Earliest Human Ancestor, Paleontologists Say

Aug 17, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined new microfossils of a Cambrian microscopic animal called Saccorhytus coronarius, which was previously interpreted as a deuterostome,...

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